16 Months

This last month has flown by. We're happy that spring is here and we can finally go outside. Both Ethan and Mia LOVE it outside. They could literally spend hours out there and I wouldn't hear a peep from them. They both are learning to walk on the uneven grass. It was kind of funny at first. Ethan biffed it a few times before he figured out how to do it. Mia is still figuring out how to walk on the grass. She is much more cautious. My parents have had our cat, Rusty, for the last couple of months. (Mike was sick of changing the litter box.) We've had her back now for a week. Both Ethan and Mia are extremely interested in her. They tend to follow her around the house. Rusty doesn't enjoy this! We've started putting Ethan and Mia in time out. We give them three chances and if they still are doing it, they go in their crib for a minute. It's exhausting! Mike is much more consistent with it than I am. They tend to act up when I'm feeding Riley (I'm pretty sure this is on purpose), so it's hard for me to put them in their cribs. I'd say this age is one of my favorites so far. They're so fun to watch. They're both so observant. I have to be careful when I do certain things like opening the dishwasher and freezer or opening doors because they watch every little thing. I really don't want them figuring out how to do these things!

There isn't a lot new with Ethan. He still talks jibberish. He has almost completely stopped saying all the words he knows except for mama and kitty. This has me kind of worried, but the doctor told me it's completely normal. He's still as curious as ever and loves any kind of tool or gadget. His favorite place besides outside is our downstairs. There are so many things he can get into. We're redoing our fireplace downstairs and he has a blast getting into Mike's tools. I'll bring the kids downstairs during the day when Mike is working and we usually get kicked out within 15 minutes. Ethan always goes for Mike's wii controllers and Mia always pulls the DVD's off the shelf. Ethan's first molar on his lower left side finally poked through today. I'm hoping to get a break from all of these teeth! Ethan has been throwing a lot of tantrums lately. When he gets mad, he screams at the top of his lungs. He likes to test Mike and me. He knows he's not supposed to do something and he'll make sure we're looking at him and he does it and then smiles.

Mia has really gotten good at walking in the past few days. I'd say she walks 90% of the time and crawls the rest. She still is pretty wobbly and holds her right arm up and her left arm in front of her. She looks like she's going to ballroom dance. She always has a smile on her face when she's walking. She's so proud of herself! Mia has said a few new words. She now says, "thank you" (it sounds like daint du), "don't", and "kitty." She loves telling her brother, "don't." I usually say it to him first and she copies me, except she yells it. It's pretty cute. She's starting to throw more tantrums. When she gets mad, she likes to bang her head on the floor 3-4 times. She gets really frustrated when she's walking and she falls down. She screams and then bang, bang, bang. Mia also likes to test us. She knows that I don't like it when she bangs the remote on my glass coffee table. She'll bang it hard a couple of times and look at me. I tell her not to do that, and then she'll take the remote and bang it softer on the glass and look at me.

You might be wondering what happened to my coffee table. Ethan broke the glass out of my end table so I decided to take the glass out.

This is fun!

First time eating peeps! They're so-so.

First time trying peeps. Not a big fan at all!

Checking on Riley.

He figured out how to unlatch the screen door on the porch and was out the door in a matter of seconds.

Ha ha. I blocked the door with the chair. But, he pushed the chair out of the way five minutes later.

Peek-a-boo!

Playing in the screened-in porch.

Look at those teeth!

You'll notice my breast pump in his right hand. He likes to play with it. Yeah, it's a little weird but I don't care. It keeps him occupied for a few minutes!